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Killer robots might be coming for us, but not if Elon Musk has his way. In a letter to the United Nations, Musk championed the cause for 116 entrepreneurs and AI experts to set guidelines for future robots that can make decisions about killing humans.

Of course, everyone went into hysterics.

The “killer robots” phrase somehow became the norm for many headlines, even though Musk was actually hoping to form a committee (called the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems).

At the same time, the letter does sound ominous:

Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. We do not have long to act.

Musk seems to be on a war of his own — hoping to create a roadmap for future robotic innovations. As usual, I have a theory about why that is. I think he’s trying to get us to think about AI dangers and, at the same time, realize that AI developments are escalating quickly. He’s not saying the sky is falling. He’s saying there is major progress and that’s a good thing, but with progress there are also many ramifications.

I happen to agree with him about the need for diligence. To me, it’s too early for regulations — we’ve seen that already with drone licensing where you had to write a code on the side of your DJI and pay a $5 fee. (The ruling is no longer in effect.) Drones are not filling the sky just yet, but at some point, licensing will make sense.

At the very least, it opens up a conversation about AI, and that’s always a good thing.

From the AI Channel

Augmented reality’s future isn’t glasses. It’s the car In the next seven years, true augmented reality will likely not become mainstream anywhere, except the automotive industry — and here are the reasons why. By “true augmented reality” we mean AR that shows virtual objects to be actually integrated with the real environment and visible on various depths, not only on a screen’s surface. […]

Samsung confirms plans to launch a smart speaker Samsung is working on a smart speaker to take on Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, Google Home, and soon Apple’s HomePod. The existence of a Samsung smart speaker and plans to release a speaker soon were shared with CNBC today by DJ Koh, president of the mobile division at Samsung. Koh did not share details about the […]

SoftBank’s Pepper robot programed to perform Buddhist funeral rites in Japan (Reuters) — A Japanese company has introduced a new role for SoftBank’s humanoid robot “Pepper” — a Buddhist priest for hire at funerals. Chanting sutras in a computerized voice while tapping a drum, the robot was on display on Wednesday at a funeral industry fair — the Life Ending Industry Expo — in Tokyo. Nissei […]

‘World’s first’ fully autonomous drone delivery service kicks off in Iceland Drones represent the future of consumer delivery services, if recent developments are anything to go by. Amazon, 7-Eleven, DoorDash, and the like have all dabbled with unmanned vehicles, both in the skies and on the sidewalks. But one Icelandic company is claiming a first in terms of a permanent, fully autonomous commercial drone delivery service that doesn’t have […]

Microsoft unveils Brainwave, a system for running super-fast AI Microsoft made a splash in the world of dedicated AI hardware today when it unveiled a new system for doing high-speed, low-latency serving of machine learning models. The company showed off a new system called Brainwave that will allow developers to deploy machine learning models onto programmable silicon and achieve high performance beyond what they’d […]

Leap.ai launches job matching platform after raising $2.4 million Leap.ai, which uses artificial intelligence to match job seekers with employers, today launched with $2.4 million in seed money. Participants included ZhenFund, established in collaboration with Sequoia Capital China, as well as several angel investors. Users sign up on Leap.ai’s website or iOS app to create a profile and submit a self-assessment, detailing their strengths, […]

Databricks raises $140 million to accelerate AI in the enterprise Databricks, which provides software to help fuse big data and artificial intelligence, announced today that it has secured an additional $140 million in funding in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from New Enterprise Associates (NEA). New investors include Battery Ventures, Future Fund Investment, A.Capital Partners, Geodesic Capital, and Green Bay Ventures. “Only one […]

Beyond VB

Elon Musk leads 116 experts calling for outright ban of killer robots Some of the world’s leading robotics and artificial intelligence pioneers are calling on the United Nations to ban the development and use of killer robots. Tesla’s Elon Musk and Alphabet’s Mustafa Suleyman are leading a group of 116 specialists from across 26 countries who are calling for the ban on autonomous weapons. (via The Guardian)

The World’s First Album Composed and Produced by an AI Has Been Unveiled “Break Free” is the first song released in a new album by Taryn Southern. The song, indeed, the entire album, features an artist known as Amper — but what looks like a typical collaboration between artists is actually much more than that. Taryn is no stranger to the music and entertainment industry. She is a singer and digital storyteller who has amassed more than 500 million views on YouTube, and she has over 450 thousand subscribers. (via Futurism)

Google-made algorithm automatically removes watermarks from stock photo Stock photo distributors must be squirming in fear. Researchers from Google have developed an algorithm that completely removes watermarks from images in a matter of seconds — and it works entirely automatically. Photography professionals will often slap watermarks on their images to protect their copyrights and prevent people from using them without their permission. However, the researchers were able to identify a glaring error in this approach and exploit it to negate the visibility of watermarks altogether. (via TNW)